Loading...
2016-05-09 - Farmer's Market Committee - Minutes Farmers Market Meeting 5-9-16 Village Hall 7 PM In Attendance: Paulette Greenberg Jeff Berman Larry King Peggy Starczowski Lea Pinshower Mickey Katz Chuck Posniak Jackie Beegun Sarah Lee Not In Attendance: Fern Russell Ed Muldoon Andy Stein Liz Glazer Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM. 1) General Updates: Paulette introduced our new committee member, Sarah Lee. Sarah moved to Buffalo Grove from Farmington, MI.,where she was an active member of the Farmington Farmers Market. Sarah described her experiences and said this market averaged 65 vendors. Sarah described some of this market's activities and promotions including weekly raffles of donated produce, and "Master Chef' demonstrations (local chefs in the community donated their time).We all agreed Sarah's experience and ideas would be an asset to the BG market. Welcome Sarah! Paulette initiated a discussion of the need for vacation coverage for dates members would be absent from the market. Micki said he would be gone the month of June and periodically throughout the summer due to traveling. Other vacation dates for members are as follows: Paulette and Chuck will be gone 8/21, 9/25, and 10/2. Lea will be gone 6/19, 6/26, 9/11, 9/18, and 9/25 Larry will be gone 6/26, 7/3, and 7/24 Sarah will be gone 7/24 Lea and Larry will work on the schedule for rotating set-up and takedown duties, as we did last year.Vacation coverage will be taken into consideration. Paulette said our new shirts are in and will be going to the printer soon. 2) Updates on Vendors: Chuck distributed and updated list of returning vendors. Vendors not returning include Farm Fresh, Great Harvest Bread, Holcomb Hollow, Presto Pesto and Toasty Cheese. Chuck identified a new vendor,Artisan Bread Company. Committee voted to accept this vendor. Another new vendor previously discussed, My Flavor It Place (shaved ice, slushies and brainfreezes) was approved with the caveat that they not serve shaved ice on the Sundays that Carlos (Tasty Vending) is there. Peggy said she has been in contact but is unsure if My Flavor It Place will agree to this. Peggy said she has been in touch with another new vendor, who sells frozen fish; she is waiting for him to provide further information but thinks based on what she knows so far she anticipates he will be approved. Chuck said he was approached by a local (Lake Zurich?) farmer who grows organic vegetables. There was a discussion among members as to whether or not Frillman's vegetables were organic, and if another organic farmer would be a conflict. Upon further investigation, it was determined that Frillman appears not to offer organic produce, rather heirloom non-GMO produce. Committee agreed having a vendor who offers organic produce would be an asset to the market, and all agreed to approve. Chuck will follow up with this new vendor. Chuck said he has not heard back from Horchers about their returning,though he has made several efforts to contact them. Jeff was able to reach out to Horchers during our meeting and Horchers indicated they would NOT be returning due to staffing issues. Chuck said he has reached out to Prairie Craft Brewery but has not heard back. Sarah said she has some contacts with possible beer/wine vendors who might offer samples and sell their products. She plans to explore this further. 3) Non-Profits: Larry has reached out to non-profits from last year's market. So far he has commitments from the Boy Scouts, the Palatine Kiwis, Live for Lolli (sp?), the VFW and Vernon and Indian Trails Libraries. Larry said the Lyons Club indicated they would not be able to have a table at our market, but the Lyons requested that a box for donated glasses be available at our information booth. The committee agreed as long as the Lyons picks up the box on a regular basis. Larry said the representative from the neither American Cancer Society nor Relay for Life has contacted him. Paulette said she referred a representative from the Special Olympics to Larry. Larry said he has not yet received any requests from politicians to appear at the market. Larry will send out a spreadsheet of the non-profit schedule. 4) Promotions/Facebook: Ed was not present but provided an update through Paulette. Ed will continue to post on Facebook, including a Patch article that will be Facebook linked until June Sth. At that point he will begin the paid advertising on Facebook and Twitter continuing to the market opening on June 121h. Paulette passed around sheets of monster and bug stick-on tattoos as giveaways. Committee agreed these were a good value and children visiting the market would enjoy the tattoos. There are enough for the entire season. Other ideas for promotions/activities this summer included holding a pumpkin decorating contest for children and a Jr. Chef contest. Pros and cons as well as logistics of these activities were discussed and all agreed further discussion would be needed. 5) Entertainment/Publicity: Fern was not present. Paulette and Chuck said they identified a jazz group from Buffalo Grove High School that expressed interest in performing at our market. Paulette will provide their information to Fern. 6) MISC: Peggy said she is working on obtaining parking signs for our market. She reported that she had a discussion with organizers of the Race scheduled for the same date as the Market's opening day. She told the organizers that race participants and attendees could park at the Dome or at the Fitness Center, so as not to interfere with parking for visitors to the Farmers Market. Paulette has an inventory list for the trailer. She showed the list to Larry and said Ed had already looked over the list and indicated it was complete. Committee agreed we needed one more meeting before opening day. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday May 251h at 7 PM. Meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM.